Alsace stands at a crossroad. It can either become diluted in a vast territory without history and identity, alienated from its neighbours and with a high support for French nationalism. Or it can fulfil its historic destiny and become a bridge between cultures, at the centre of Europe and proud of its diverse identity. To be or not to be, that is the Alsatian question.

“If we vote ‘No’ we would basically abandon the people of Ukraine, we should not do that,” A small group of people passionately argue on the square facing the Dutch parliament in The Hague. It is an unusually cold Monday night beneath the statue of William of Orange. The protesters are discussing a country to which none of them has ever been. Two young men try to convince an older man that he should not vote “yes” in the upcoming referendum, as this would provoke Putin and that Ukraine should solve its own problems with corruption before seeking closer ties with the European Union. These arguments can be read in any Dutch newspaper, in addition to daily stories about Ukraine and its politics.

In the December I was asked by openDemocracy to write an article about the ongoing protests in Alsace.

An ocean of red and white flags filled the streets of the Alsatian town Colmar last Satuday. A crowd of mostly young people was walking behind a banner that read “Alsatians we are, and Alsatians we will remain”. Slogans affirming the identity of this border-region were chanted both in French and in German. The crowd had responded to the call of the autonomist party Unser Land to demonstrate against the plans of the French state to merge the Alsace region in a “mega-region” with Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne. This would effectively deny Alsace any political existence.

Maybe this is the banner that best summarised why an estimated 6,500 to 15,000 protesters (depending on the sources) took to the streets in Strasbourg, the capital of the French region Alsace, two weeks ago. The protesters followed the call of regional activists and politicians to demonstrate against the proposed plan of the French government to administratively merge their region with two other regions.